Natasha's arm is completely twisted by a Black Ops agent when Maria rushes to her aid, helping the Black Widow break free. There is hardly time to thank her before another incoming attack. And it would appear that the large, green Jennifer Walters is currently borrowing the Captain's shield to stall.

Natasha charges her bite and fires toward the incoming attackers. With blood on her forehead she tries to catch her breath. She clutched her com after Steve's call;

"What's wrong."

'Alexei is getting away.'

She mumbles, barely audible, "I'll handle it."

She forces the incoming attackers to fall back with a bullet. Clint appears overhead, taking a swing as he pulls an arrow from his quiver;

"Don't be too passive."

Romanoff looks out on the field, searching for Shostakov or her 'father', "Steve?"

'Romanoff?'

"Where are they coming from?"

'The southern border. There's too many.'

She fights her way through, dodging when she can. Seeing those few familiar faces triggers an emotional response she's quick to acknowledge and ultimately ignore if it's an attack on her teammate.

Alexei makes brief contact with Romanoff. Their eyes meet in a rage. Even then she can't charge for him and neither can he. He turns to knock out an agent with the assurance that she will see his decision not to kill. It doesn't feel any better to Natasha when she tightens her jaw and decides to ignore, leading Clint down a different path just to avoid him.

"Nat!" Clint pushes his friend to the ground, ducking over a bomb.

Natasha makes her way through the smoke, her face covered in debris when she fires her gun from the ground in a truly accidental kill. It helps her side, even if it feels wrong. All she can hear are his words;

'Self-defense…'

It's becoming too much. Clint is calling for her. Though Natasha is ready to lay in the ground and never move again until she sees a hand extended in her direction.

"Get up Natasha."

His figure is dark but his voice is unmistakable. She takes his hand, suddenly back to back with Fury as she lifts her secondary weapon. Barton is further away but having Fury beside her feels just as safe.

Her hair is in her face so she quickly brushes it back, "Head back towards Rogers and keep pushing them away. I've got this."

He obeys her orders without question, leaving Natasha to push forward.

Barton is panting as he struggles to keep up with Natasha's running, "I might retire. You like Laura right?"

Natasha swings to take out an impending enemy, "Yeah! Why?"

"I'm thinking about asking her to marry me."

"Oh,' Natasha's eyebrows lower, 'A little soon?"

"Maybe. But if I make it out of this I wanna-,' he fires his arrow, 'You know. I'd like to start a new chapter in my life."

"Uh huh."

"Sorry, too deep?"

"No I follow," She sighs, trying to catch her breath as she fires her pistol off into the distance, "Why not right? You love her."

"You think she can handle me?"

"Clint,' she smirks, wiping the blood from the fresh cut on her mouth, 'no one can handle you. But if I had to choose a human it would be Laura."

"A human?! As opposed to...what?!"

Natasha's half grin disappears the second she hears a bullet from Petrovich. His pistol is unmistakable as she dashes with urgency around the bend and up over the hill.

Clint points, "That came from the base."

Natasha momentarily lowers her weapon and swallows, "It's Ivan. I need to do this part alone."

Barton frowns and takes a breath, "I'll be right behind you."

"Take your time."

Natasha scopes out the area, floor creaking for every step she takes in the empty base. With a finger on the trigger of her weapon and her jaw tight, she recognizes a voice behind her;

"Is that how you greet me, Natalia?"

She fires her pistol over Ivan's shoulder as she pivots to face him.

Tears fill in her eyes as the flashbacks begin. She doesn't want to fire when she firmly responds;

"Give me a reason not to end all of this, right now."

"Too dramatic," he takes equal steps forward to meet her in the middle.

Her expression is cold, a bead of sweat and blood over her temple, "You used me."

" Malyshka ."

"You traded children as if they were property. You handed them over the same way you gave me up-."

"That was different."

"It might've been to a different monster, but it is the same story."

With a swift reach she removes her second weapon with shifting focus on an entering Alexei. She's circled, a red strand of hair coming forward over her cheek as she aims both pistols on both figures. Her mouth tastes of blood when she bites her lip.

Alexei mumbles, holding his own large gun, "Put weapon down Natasha, we can settle things."

"The children! Did you know about the serum?!"

Ivan scoffs, "That was Blonsky. He's power hungry. We only wanted the one."

Alexei interjects, slightly more composed then Ivan, "I only want to do good."

"-you can't see how absolutely insane it is to use a child," Natasha grinds her teeth, a stress-filled tear slipping from the corner of her eye as she grins through the pain.

Years ago Alexei left her a hero. Reappearing as a villain was never what she imagined.

Her voice cracks no matter how strong she's trying to stay, "You hurt me. And you hurt those girls. You're a wanted criminal-you realize that."

"Natasha-," Alexei tries.

"You have no empathy. Neither one of you."

"You are weak," Ivan bites.

Natasha swallows hard, aware of the fact that he's spotted the stray tear down her cheek. The fact that he knows does nothing for her sanity.

The spy tightens her jaw, "You know where I stand. If you don't turn yourselves in I don't have a choice."

"Natalia-."

"I've been forced to eliminate a lot of monsters during my lifetime...I never thought you'd be one of them."

Maria brushes her cheek and lowers her weapon. Clint crouches to address her injured ankle, "Is it bad?"

She pulls away with a cringe, "Don't touch it."

"You're worse than the kids."

She lifts a stubborn hand, "Nat needs you, go. I'll just slow you down."

He extends a hand and helps her over his shoulder, "Shut up and grab my shoulder before I change my mind."

Maria complies with a sigh, the twosome hobbling along.

"One day you'll ask me for help and it won't be awkward," Clint mutters.

She huffs out a laugh, "You're the one who slept with the whole team while we were dating."

He rolls his eyes, "Not the whole team."

"Just Tracy from intelligence. Rachel-."

"We kissed on a dare. I was drunk- Anyways, I'm not that guy anymore, Maria."

"I have to ask; what the hell did you do to Steve?"

"He thought it was a date. It wasn't."

She snorts, "Hey. Clint; We're stuck together. Whether we like it or not. We care about the same people and work for the same organization. And I'm okay with- not with what went down between us- but I'm okay moving on. I want us to be, friends. Is that possible?"

Clint nods slowly as they struggle up the mountain, "And you're not mad at me anymore?"

"We're not sixteen. We didn't work out and that's okay. I'm alright. You moved on. And I'm happy for you."

"Okay…"

She rolls her eyes, "Really? That's all you've got to say?"

"For now! You can't walk and I'm covered in shit."

"You would care if I was Nat."

"You're not. You're more annoying...Friend."

Fury interrupts with a map in his phone, "Romanoff shut her tracker."

"She's at the base," Clint responds, "She shut her tracker because she doesn't want to be followed."

Fury bites back, "We need to ensure Izabella isn't under attack."

Maria groans over her injury, "Is that why the ops agents disappeared? Trying to locate the kid."

"Tony hasn't sounded an alarm," Clint adjusts his collar single handedly, still holding half of Maria's weight.

When Banner's eyes open, there is no longer the sound of rushing water but a crackling fire.

Bruce sits up only to be greeted by a demigod;

"Banner! He has awoken!"

Izabella's face pops quickly into view, wrapping her arms around the physicist as she falls onto her knees to meet him on the ground.

Bruce struggles to comprehend the situations, begrudgingly indulging the girl in a hug. He swallows and consents to Svetlana's embrace next.

He feels and remembers little, inexplicably now dressed in Tony's clothes.

Stark appears and lifts his friend from the ground in a bear hug. Banner's eyes burn, unable to process the frantic dialogue from the friends that surround him.

Tony grips his shoulders, "Did you hear me?!"

Bruce forces a word through his sore frame and dry mouth, "No?"

The hovering children try to explain, talking over one another about 'crazy Ivan', Natasha, and Izabella's 'magic.'

Banner wonders momentarily if he's dreaming before tugging at his borrowed top, "Where's Nat."

Tony pushes his chest, "I just told you, she's back at the base fighting off-."

"What base."

"Russian headquarters," Izabella interrupts.

Tony points, "That."

"Where is that," Bruce turns as if he's ready to walk there.

Tony pulls his friend back, catching him from taking a fall, "Hang on! You're not going anywhere. Izabella just warped you back to us and we haven't checked your vitals yet."

"I's-Nat-I have to," he slurs.

Thor smiles, "I would be happy to fly us."

"No one is flying anywhere! The kids need us here," Jane tries to be firm.

Riley laughs, sitting at the edge of the couch, "Trust me, we don't need you guys anymore."

Izabella waits in front of her aunt. Svetlana's holds her niece's shoulders as the girl mumbles;

"Natasha need you. Trust me."

Bruce tilts his head and points to the girl;

"I'm with Izabella."

Tony scowls, "Really?! So this is how it's gonna be?! You listen to your 'daughter' over me-."

Bruce shakes his head in disbelief, "I can't just let her fight alone."

"Where's the rock, the abomination guy?"

"I'm pretty sure hulk squashed him," Bruce states matter-of-factly.

"Oh wow. Just like that?"

"Yeah. I need a car," he steps for the door.

"No,' Tony chases his friend down and blocks the intended path, 'you look high-."

"I'm not high,' Bruce tugs at his borrowed pants uncomfortably. 'Ugh! How'd I get into your clothes-?!"

Tony purposely ignores and yells over his shoulder, "Thor!"

The demigod steps forward, "Yes!"

"Watch the house. I'm taking Westley to Buttercup."

Thor shakes his head, "I'm afraid I do not understand-."

"Natasha! We're going to check on Natasha to prevent a big green blow up! Do you understand now?!"

"Indeed!"

Natasha's arms are getting tired as she maintains her defensive position. She dreads pulling the trigger, hoping Ivan will break and turn himself in.

"You've proven I'm irrelevant to you," Natasha mumbles coldly, still going back and forth with Petrovich.

"You will not join us? For Russia?"

"Russia has nothing to do with your cryptic sadistic money making plot. Izabella is a child!"

Ivan purses his lips, taking a step back in his position. His hands fall to the back, clasping his fingers over his weapon;

"I try. She knows too much."

Natasha inhales, standing strong. While she watches with intent focus.

"Alexei?" The younger man looks up attentively, ready to oblige Ivan's every request.

The older man pauses to reload his weapon and aims for her head;

"Kill her."

Alexei takes his own aim with a week apology.

Natasha places her finger on the trigger, seconds away from firing mercilessly in Ivan's direction with her eyes focused.

It might as well be slow motion as a click from his weapon echoes in her ears. She holds her focus and fires her own, firm in her resolve.

"Tasha!"

Her head whips to look over her shoulder. Only one person calls her 'Tasha'.

Seeing a familiar disheveled physicist entering the space with urgency as he charges in with Tony and her team following close behind is a whirlwind.

With a heavy nudge to her side she shifts her stare, seeing a smoking weapon aimed in her direction from a half lifeless Ivan all too late.

Time stops, her head rattling when she hears the sound of a shot and feels the weight of a man jumping to lunge in front of her.

Ivan is on the ground and one of her own guns is warm and laying on the ground. The rest is a blur when she sees Bruce at her side, aiding a heavy Alexei to the ground.

Natasha's mouth drops open when she looks down at the blood pooling from Alexei's side. Her jaw drops mid panic upon realizing that Alexei has taken Ivan's bullet for her.

Banner is already moving to tend to Alexei without thinking twice, calling on the rest of the team for aid and removing his overcoat.

Romanoff looks up to see Tony checking on Ivan's lifeless body with Clint.

"He's gone, Nat," Barton confirms.

Natasha swallows, knowing she's shot her 'father'.

Alexei's cough brings her back to the present, watching with a panic as she sits on the floor with Shostakov's head in her lap.

Bruce is doing what he can to stop the bleeding in his takeover, sleeves already rolled up as he adds pressure to the wound.

Natasha finds Banner's eyes. He pauses momentarily, his hands covered in Alexei's blood when he swallows hard and briefly makes eye contact with the redhead.

"He's losing a lot of blood. We need to get him to the ER."

Natasha shifts her eyes between the two men. She shakes her head at Alexei;

"Why…"

Shostakov whispers, "Ivan…shot you."

Jennifer enters with her eyes wide, waiting beside Fury and Hill.

"Get an emergency craft and a stretcher down here now!" Nick Fury makes his call.

Banner continues trying to patch his wife's ex-husband as best he can;

"He's losing too much blood."

Alexei laughs through his pain, breathing through his teeth;

" Pozhaluysta ."

She stammers, tears in her eyes, "I wasn't expecting you to do that."

"Natasha…"

"Shh, it's okay."

He grimaces.

Bruce coaches softly between Natasha's remarks, "Try to breathe. We seriously need to get him to a medic, Fury-!"

"I'm trying, I can't get a connection-."

Natasha grips Banner's arm and the two share a glance. She can only shake her head 'no', at a loss for words.

He wants to argue, eyes wide with his head tilted when he whispers, "Natasha..."

She shakes her head 'no' for a second time.

The rest of the team look on, frozen as they wait for Natasha to make a call.

The physicist whispers, his eyes soft when he looks at the redhead, "I can't help him here."

Her eyes say it all. She is holding a war criminal, someone who will face penalties for all that he's done if he survives. And maybe it's selfish, but Natasha knows she needs it to end.

On the flip side, Alexei is a stubborn man who would rather die than be proven wrong. To face consequences. It's just as much for his own sake.

Bruce focuses on her eyes. Though it is against everything he believes in, he reluctantly nods and addresses Alexei;

"Save your breath."

Alexei flicks his focus toward Bruce with a rapid nod despite broken inhales.

Natasha lowers her head back toward Alexei, holding his head gently in her arms, "You shouldn't have done that."

Alexei holds his focus through his pain, a hand over his rib cage, "I did not want you hurt."

Natasha nods again, trying to suppress her emotion, "I know."

Alexei forces his words, eyeing Banner and then Natasha;

"Forgive me?"

Bruce just swallows, sitting beside the redhead. It's her call, not his.

Natasha nods and brushes Alexei's cheek with a soft hand, "Yeah."

Whether she means it or not, it is what Alexei needs to hear. So she says it. Within seconds Alexei's weight increases over her lap, his arm going lip.

She leans sideways against Banner's shoulder when he comes around to hold her.

Natasha waits in the silence, holding back her tears. Her head eventually falls onto Alexei's chest with a scream that echoes off the walls of the base, the tears slip steadily. She's crying in a way she's never cried before, holding his lifeless body.

The tears aren't just for Alexei or for her 'father' but also for the years of repression she finally breaks free of.

Bruce holds her from the side, able to feel every ounce of her pain. Somehow seeing her this broken feels far worse than if he had been a few seconds earlier to take the bullet himself.

Jennifer maintains her space and looks on from a distance with a head bowed low. Fury crouches at Natasha's opposite side with a hand over her back.

Clint sinks slowly across from his best friend, waiting with her and their team in the silence. Steve enters last and pauses at the door with Rhodes, vacant and emotionless.

Natasha hides her face against Alexei's chest, her whisper only audible to Bruce who is holding her so close;

"I can't breathe."

"I know," he whispers honestly, only loud enough for her. She is his only priority, dismissing all other thoughts.

No one makes her move. There is no voice telling her that she's weak. No one dares to rush her along in her mourning.

It is so much more than these two men, it's her past. The end of an era. Nothing remains of her childhood, her life before SHIELD, and there's little she wants to remember.

Alexei might've made poor decisions, but he was a part of her past. Despite whatever else she's been through this year, she did care about him.

There is only respect amongst the team as they circle the vicinity in support. For the first time in Natasha's life she is understood. She is not wrong in some way. No matter how out of her body she feels at this very moment, no matter the embarrassment she knows she will feel later, there is an undeniable comfort in having everyone she loves at her side during one of her darkest moments.